Method and apparatus for providing fulfillment services

• US 9,189,768 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Plaster, Thomas W., Freeman, Kyle A., Murray, Jason W., Griffith, Mark B., Patel, Ankit, Rawcliffe, Alan C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender, Ryan
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROJAS, HAJIME S
• Application Number:
  US11/756,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20080301009A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,092 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705 22- 28, 705/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Method and apparatus for providing inventory fulfillment services to customers who have small quantities of heterogeneous items to sell. A self-service registration interface for generating lists of items to sell via the inventory fulfillment service is provided. The inventory fulfillment service may provide pricing suggestions to the customer. The inventory fulfillment service may determine whether a listed item satisfies one or more listing rules. Shipping information for a list of items may be automatically generated and provided to the customer. The customer may ship the items in one shipment to a specified facility. The customer is the seller of record for all items listed. The customer may not be charged for services until an item is sold. A listing period may be specified for which listed items will be carried. If an item does not sell within the period, option(s) for disposal of the item may be provided.

Claims

1. An inventory management system, comprising:

one or more data stores comprising a catalog of item information for items previously registered with the inventory management system;

a fulfillment services registration module implemented by at least one of one or more computers and configured to;

provide for display an interface comprising a plurality of interface elements, one or more of which is configured to;

locate at least one item in the catalog based on input from a particular user;

retrieve, from the catalog, item information for the at least one located item;

provide, based at least in part on the retrieved information, for selecting one or more of the located at least one item in the catalog for registration by the particular user for fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider and for listing services from the fulfillment services provider for the particular user; and

accept, from the particular user, a selection of the at least one located item;

receive, via the interface, a request to register, for the particular user, one or more of the located and selected at least one item in the catalog to receive inventory fulfillment services from the fulfillment services provider for orders of the one or more located and selected items; and

in response to the request and based at least in part on item information corresponding to the selected one or more items retrieved from the catalog, register the particular user for the fulfillment services for the selected one or more items; and

a sales listing module implemented by at least one of the one or more computers and configured to;

subsequent to the request and using at least the item information retrieved from the catalog, generate respective sales listings for said selected one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels, wherein said respective sales listings are provided for display for selling said selected one or more items to one or more purchasing customers of the particular user;

the fulfillment services registration module further configured to;

provide to the particular user, via said interface, information for shipping inventory of said selected one or more items to said fulfillment services provider, wherein said information for shipping said inventory is provided prior to a sale of any of said selected one or more items on behalf of the particular user;

update in a data store, subsequent to receipt of the shipped inventory of said selected one or more items at the fulfillment services provider, a status of the received inventory of said selected one or more items; and

the sales listing module further configured to, subsequent to receipt of an order for at least one of said selected one or more items, instruct fulfillment of the order for the at least one item by the fulfillment services provider.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, for a given one of said one or more items, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to the particular user for inventory fulfillment services dependent upon a sale of a given one of said one or more items via a corresponding one of said one or more electronic commerce channels.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, for a given one of said one or more items, a corresponding one of said sales listings is configured to expire after an expiration period, and wherein if said given item has not sold prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured not to assess fees to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein, after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured to instruct that said given item be returned to the particular user or otherwise removed from inventory.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein, in response to said inventory management system instructing that said given item be returned to said particular user, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to the particular user for costs of returning said given item to said particular user.

6. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein, after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred subsequent to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises one or more web pages.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises a web services interface, wherein said sales listings are accessible from the inventory management system via said web services interface to expose said sales listing on an electronic commerce web site corresponding to the given electronic commerce channel.

9. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computers;

providing, by a fulfillment services registration module for display, an interface comprising a plurality of interface elements, one or more of which is configured to;

locate at least one item in a catalog based on input from a particular user;

retrieve, from the catalog, item information for the at least one located item;

provide, based at least in part on the retrieved information, for selecting one or more of the located at least one item in the catalog for registration by the particular user for fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider and for listing services from the fulfillment services provider for the particular user; and

accept, from the particular user, a selection of the at least one located item;

receiving, by the fulfillment services registration module and via the interface, a request to register, for the particular user, one or more of the located and selected at least one item in the catalog to receive inventory fulfillment services from the fulfillment services provider for orders of the one or more located and selected items;

in response to the request and based at least in part on item information corresponding to the selected one or more items retrieved from the catalog, registering, by the fulfillment services registration module, the particular user for the fulfillment services for the selected one or more items;

generating by a sales listing module, subsequent to the request and using at least the item information retrieved from the catalog, respective sales listings for said selected one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels, wherein said respective sales listings are provided for display for selling said selected one or more items to one or more purchasing customers of the particular user;

providing by the fulfillment services registration module to the particular user, via said interface, information for shipping inventory of said selected one or more items to said fulfillment services provider, wherein said information for shipping said inventory is provided prior to a sale of any of said selected one or more items on behalf of the particular user;

subsequent to receiving the shipped inventory by the fulfillment services provider, updating a status of the received inventory of said selected one or more items in a data store; and

subsequent to receiving an order for at least one of said selected one or more items, instructing fulfillment of the order for the at least one item by the fulfillment services provider.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

for a given one of said one or more items, said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to the particular user for inventory fulfillment services dependent upon a sale of a given one of said one or more items via a corresponding one of said one or more electronic commerce channels.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

for a given one of said one or more items, a corresponding one of said sales listings expiring after an expiration period; and

in response to said given item not having sold prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said fulfillment services provider not assessing fees to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, returning said given item to the particular user or otherwise removing said given item from inventory.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to the particular user for costs of returning said given item to said particular user.

14. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred subsequent to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

15. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises one or more web pages.

16. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises a web services interface, wherein said sales listings are accessible from the inventory management system via said web services interface to expose said sales listing on an electronic commerce web site corresponding to the given electronic commerce channel.

17. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform:

providing, by a fulfillment services registration module for display, an interface comprising a plurality of interface elements, one or more of which is configured to;

locate at least one item in a catalog based on input from a particular user;

retrieve, from the catalog, item information for the at least one located item;

provide, based at least in part on the retrieved information, for selecting one or more of the located at least one item in the catalog for registration by the particular user for fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider and for listing services from the fulfillment services provider for the particular user; and

accept, from the particular user, a selection of the at least one located item;

receiving, by the fulfillment services registration module and via the interface, a request to register, for the particular user, one or more of the located and selected at least one item in the catalog to receive inventory fulfillment services from the fulfillment services provider for orders of the one or more located and selected items;

in response to the request and based at least in part on item information corresponding to the selected one or more items retrieved from the catalog, registering, by the fulfillment services registration module, the particular user for the fulfillment services for the selected one or more items;

generating by a sales listing module, subsequent to the request and using at least the item information retrieved from the catalog, respective sales listings for said selected one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels, wherein said respective sales listings are provided for display for selling said selected one or more items to one or more purchasing customers of the particular user;

providing by the fulfillment services registration module to the particular user, via said interface, information for shipping inventory of said selected one or more items to said fulfillment services provider, wherein said information for shipping said inventory is provided prior to a sale of any of said selected one or more items on behalf of the particular user;

subsequent to receiving the shipped inventory by the fulfillment services provider, updating a status of the received inventory of said selected one or more items in a data store; and

subsequent to receiving an order for at least one of said selected one or more items, instructing fulfillment of the order for the at least one item by the fulfillment services provider.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more computers further cause the one or more computers to perform:

for a given one of said one or more items, assessing fees on behalf of said fulfillment services provider to the particular user for inventory fulfillment services dependent upon a sale of a given one of said one or more items via a corresponding one of said one or more electronic commerce channels.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more computers further cause the one or more computers to perform:

for a given one of said one or more items, expiring a corresponding one of said sales listings after an expiration period; and

in response to said given item not having sold prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing, not assessing fees on behalf of said fulfillment services provider to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more computers further cause the one or more computers to perform:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, instructing return of said given item to the particular user or otherwise removing said given item from inventory.

21. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more computers further cause the one or more computers to perform:

assessing fees on behalf of said fulfillment services provider to the particular user for costs of returning said given item to said particular user.

22. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 19, wherein the program instructions when executed by the one or more computers further cause the one or more computers to perform:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, assessing fees on behalf of said fulfillment services provider to the particular user for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred subsequent to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

23. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 17, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises one or more web pages.

24. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium as recited in claim 17, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises a web services interface, wherein said sales listings are accessible from the inventory management system via said web services interface to expose said sales listing on an electronic commerce web site corresponding to the given electronic commerce channel.